


All in the Family

by empathy_junkie



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alcohol, Awkward Conversations, Other, mentions of pet play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:49:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empathy_junkie/pseuds/empathy_junkie
Summary: au where hatori doesn't die and higuchi is arrested early because he's a fucking idiot; hatori and namikawa have a nice little discussion about breakups
Kudos: 2





	All in the Family

"What happened to you, huh?"

It would normally be a dreadful idea to ask Namikawa a question like that, especially away from the hallowed floors of a gaudy office building where there was always someone lower on the totem pole who might catch a word or two of the answer. The grotesqueness of Namikawa's word choice seemed to increase exponentially with every degree of separation from a professional environment, and Hatori had approached him while he was sitting alone, gloomy and forlorn, sitting in a booth at one of their usual weekend haunts. But if Namikawa had a reputation to maintain, so did Hatori. He was a curious person; a person who asked questions others refused to and sought out circumstances that nobody without a proclivity for masochism would dare to.

Tonight, masochism was the loudest of his impulses. Namikawa may not have been gone into hiding for more than a few days, but while he had been gone, a flurry of rumors had replaced him.

Namikawa lifted his chin at being addressed, eyes tracing Hatori's robust outline with a mixture of apprehension and distaste. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he could tell, even in the dim light, that he looked a far cry from his usual self. His ring was missing. His hair was tied behind his head revealing a horribly clean and unmarked neck. He probably assumed it would take a Suguru Shimura to notice these things. He was wrong.

Hatori was well aware of the circumstances that caused this lapse of judgement. The entire floor was. In fact, it was probable that the entire Tokyo branch had heard some version of events, now that Kida had gotten ahold of the story. But Hatori could play dumb better than any one of those bloodthirsty bastards, and he had come to claim the bittersweet reward for his efforts.

"I take a week away and suddenly I'm hiding something?" Namikawa drawled finally, sparing Hatori a meager smile.

It had been three days, at the most, but Hatori was pleased with the introduction, and didn't push the issue any further. Instead, he took a gracious seat across from Namikawa, stretching his legs out underneath the table and giving his neck a crack.

"Aw, no, not at all," he said warmly. "I get you. Same old thing gets boring after awhile, especially when you got friends as uninspired as us. Sometimes you gotta get out and try something new! Otherwise, you have nothing with which to tantalize said friends with, right?" he grinned broadly and gestured with his chin toward the thin line of dark hair peeking out behind Reiji's collarbone.

"Like what you did with the hair."

Namikawa grimaced. "Hm. Perhaps I _was_ bored."

Hatori knit his brow in consideration. "Going for a new image? You've got a lot to work with. Heh, remember when Ooi first came in on Monday with those classy sunglasses? Kida was never the same."

"Do you _want_ something, Hatori?"

Namikawa's eyes had closed in frustration, temporarily hiding their bloodshot appearance. It was just the opportunity Hatori needed to go for broke.

"Nah," he signed. "You know me. Couple of laughs with friends; couple of kids to come home to at the end of the day. All I can ask for, really. I just missed you, man."

Reiji absorbed this, eyes still closed. "Hm. Really."

"So, you gonna go for a full shave, or - "

" _Ahem. It ended_."

Blink and you'd miss it; Reiji's face had gone through a transformation of deep dismay before settling again into a blank, wrinkleless structure. He was hungrily eyeing his own ring as a last link to sanity by the time Hatori opened his mouth.

"Come again?"

Reiji flushed and leaned forward on the table, lips bent as he attempted once again to enlighten his friend without emotional incident.

"It's - it's over with Yotsuba."

Damn. So it was.

But the utter buffoon managed a gasp. "Goddamn! You're leaving us? Reiji, for the love of fuck! I've been hearing how close you are to -"

"Ahem, I don’t - that's not - "

Namikawa didn't even get to finish his red-faced confession before Hatori interrupted, voice suddenly low.

" _Oh_." He leaned forward slightly. "You mean things are over with my dad."

Namikawa pursed his lips. Hatori felt a coil of rage wrap around his stomach.

He brought his hands onto the table. They were getting their feet wet, but Hatori had a mind to drown them both before the evening was over.

"Hey. Good for you," he said. "Let's get a round for the development and you can tell me everything."

Namikawa looked surprised. His eyes darted nervously across Hatori's face before he made to swipe his loose hair away from his eyes with a pained smile. "Hah. Of course. Why not."

Hatori waved over a server without another thought.

_Why not._

As the evening wore on, Hatori couldn't help but notice how comfortable he had become operating within those philosophical guidelines. In his youth, it was something he did with a sense of self-admonishment: proof that he had less to lose than the majority of those around him. His reputation, his status and options were insulated and comfortable, giving him leeway where others had none. Perhaps it was the realization that Namikawa Reiji operated in a similar fashion that had drawn Hatori to him in those tenuous days after Higuchi's death. Here was someone equally shameless yet seemingly unaware of the great burden on his inner-most self that his actions should have gifted him. Here was an imbecile. Here was someone who understood.

So, of course, they would end up deriving their sense of invincibility from the same fucking man. It was just another joke, really. Just further proof that neither of them should be permitted to rise above the scandalous nature of their lives.

At least Hatori hadn't sought it out. Silver fucking lining.

Yet for all his optimism, the introduction of alcohol had gradually soured Hatori's mood to such a degree that even his socially blind companion eventually took offense to it.

After glaring at Hatori for what must have been several moments, Namikawa finally saw fit to rest his chin in his ring-less palm and mutter, "For someone with no stakes in this, you certainly seem overjoyed with its outcome."

Hatori set down his glass. A passing fancy told him that congratulations were in order for this discovery alone, but before he could order his still-grinning mouth to keep playing coy, a bitter remark wormed its way past his lips, instead. "You really aren't aware of how often you've brought this up around me, huh?"

Namikawa scoffed, throwing his body back against the booth. Hatori was no longer sober enough to detect the shade of his friend's complexion, but the embarrassment in his tone was obvious enough. "Oh, so you can divine the exact nature of my relationships just from a little gossip."

"Aw, don't get all defensive. You were probably just trying to be considerate," Hatori conceded, beaming. "I mean, where else am I gonna get information about my dad's personal life? It's not like he's gonna call me up one day complaining that he's unfulfilled in his love life."

"That’s not at all - "

"Though, hey, if he hadn't ever felt that way before, I wouldn't even be here. Ha! Guess you can rule out you being the problem here. That's a comfort, right?"

Namikawa made an ugly face of unrestrained hurt. Apparently, he wasn't sober enough to play coy, either. "No! It's not!"

Hatori shrugged, immeasurably pleased with himself. "Sorry to hear that."

Namikawa settled back into glaring while Hatori took another swig from his mug. Finally, he tossed whatever hair had fallen loose from its tie, tone lowering to little more than a groan. "Ugh. I don't even want your sympathy. I didn't ask for it. You don't even really know what happened between us. Don't know why you're still running your mouth."

"Did you literally not hear what I just said?" Hatori hadn't meant to yell, really. "Reiji. You told me about the fucking collar."

Namikawa looked deeply confused.

"Yeah, you told me how he likes to have you on all fours mewing like a cat. Remember that? What other bits of information to I really need to have appropriate context?"

"Well, you, of course you hate him. Because -" Namikawa cut himself off with a great effort, turning his face away.

"Because? Something you'd like to say, pal?"

"There are worse ways for fathers to be, you know."

Hatori was mercifully too drunk to bear the whole weight of such a remark, latching instead onto the best way to continue his assault, "I guess you _would_ know. You're the one he liked calling his mistress."

"Shut up!"

"Yeah, I should have told you to do that last time."

"It's not even my fault he fell in love with me to begin with!" Namikawa spat. "Don't hold a grudge for that."

"My problem isn't with you, surprisingly," Hatori muttered, head slightly bowed. Namikawa didn't seem to notice this, however. 

"No," Namikawa narrowed his eyes, jutting his chin even higher into the air. "No I think it is. I think you're jealous."

"Oh, fuck off Reiji. You've been miserable with him. It was obvious."

"It's obvious that you're jealous of the fact that he gave a fuck about me!"

"You think I wanted to be my own father's fucking mistress?"

Apparently, he did. A bemused smirk blossomed on his face and he seemed to be fighting back a laugh. "My god, Hatori. That's sordid even for a … you."  


"Hold on. _Hold on_ , back that up for a second." Hatori leaned forward on the table, both elbows wobbling. "You're seriously looking at me right now thinking that some part of me wishes I could be the one demeaned and jerked around by the throat like I know you've been for months? Is there any part of our reality that you don't interpret through the lens of sex, Namikawa?"

"At least your father understood."

"Oh, right. I'm sure he encouraged it. Who wouldn't want an affair with a sex-obsessed moron with no defined limitations?"

Namikawa's next words were barely heard above the din. "Would you?"

"I'm not my fucking dad!"

" _I'm not fucking your dad either_!" Namikawa's declaration was so passionate that Hatori wasn't able to recover quickly enough to dispute its accuracy. "So there's two years of my life wasted! At least you got your job out of him! I have nothing to show for it at all. You think it was easy for me? And he - and he …"

Hatori reached across the table at a sudden impulse, taking Namikawa's wrist in his sweaty palm. "He's a piece of shit, Reiji. That's what I'm trying to say. That's _literally,_ literally all I'm trying to say."

Muffled conversations from the other tables filled the next several seconds. Namikawa didn't attempt to free his wrist. Eventually, he merely repeated, "I don’t know what the fuck I even did wrong."

"There's nothing wrong with you!" Hatori barked, maintaining bleary eye-contact. "And there's nothing wrong with me!"

It was Hatori's turn to feel the blood rushing to his face. He sat back against his chair, taking his hand back with him. Whatever, it didn't matter. It wasn't as if he was conversing with someone actually capable of observation of any kind -

"You know," Namikawa was whispering once more, voice horrifically like a purr. "You look so much like him when you're angry."

Hatori got to his feet. "Well," he sighed. "Guess I gotta split on you then. To complete the effect."

Namikawa's half-smile fell immediately. "Wait, no!" he gazed up at his companion with swimming eyes. "No, come on. Hatori. Sit down."

But he couldn't. He couldn't be spoken to like that; couldn't be looked at like that; couldn't stand to see the bitter conclusion to his haphazard adventure. Hatori lurched his way out of the booth and cast a final grin toward Namikawa.

"See ya, Reiji. Glad we had this talk."


End file.
